Seeing open rates that look too high, too low, or don't match what your clients tell you? You're not imagining it. Open tracking has become much less reliable across the whole email industry over the last few years. This affects every email platform, not just RealScout.

Every tracked email includes a tiny, invisible image. When that image loads, the email is counted as "opened."

That's the entire mechanism. Open tracking never knew whether someone actually read your email. It only knew that an image loaded. For years, that was a good enough stand-in. Today, a lot of things load that image (or block it) without a person ever looking at the email.

Since 2021, Apple Mail on iPhone, iPad, and Mac has offered a privacy setting called Mail Privacy Protection. Most people turn it on when their device asks. When it's on, Apple downloads the images in every email in the background, including the tracking image, whether or not your client opens the message.

So an email to an Apple Mail user can show as opened even if it was never read. Because so many of your clients use iPhones, this alone can push open rates up significantly.

Note: This applies to the Apple Mail app. A client who reads email in the Gmail or Outlook app on an iPhone isn't affected by this setting.

Many work email systems, and some personal ones, scan incoming messages for threats before they reach the inbox. Some of these scanners load images and test links. That can show up as an open, and sometimes a click, within seconds of delivery.

If a contact shows an "open" a second or two after the email went out, especially at a work email address, a security filter is the likely cause.

More and more inboxes now include built-in AI that reads email for your clients. Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail can summarize messages, sort them by priority, or suggest replies, and some clients also use third-party AI inbox tools.

To do that work, these tools sometimes load the full email, including the tracking image. When that happens, it counts as an open even if your client never looked at the message.

This is also why one email can show several opens. For example, a single listing alert might register an open when Apple Mail preloads it, another when an AI assistant summarizes it, and a third when your client actually reads it. That looks like a very engaged contact, but only one of those opens may have been a person.

AI can push opens the other way, too. Some assistants read the email's text without loading images, so no open is recorded. And if the AI summary in the inbox gives your client what they needed, they may never open the full email at all.

Tip: If a contact shows several opens on the same email but no clicks, saves, or replies, treat it as automated activity rather than strong interest.

Some email apps and company email systems block images until the reader chooses to show them. If the image never loads, the open never counts, even if your client read the whole email.

Clients who read a preview in their notification, a preview pane, or a smartwatch may never trigger the tracking image.

Gmail and some other providers store copies of email images on their own servers. This can mean repeat opens of the same email aren't recorded.

Treat opens as a rough signal, not proof. "Opened" doesn't mean your client read the alert, and "not opened" doesn't mean they ignored it.

Opens can still help you spot big trends over months. Just don't compare today's open rates to benchmarks from before 2021. They're measuring different things.

Actions that require a real person are much more reliable than opens.

If you're deciding who to call this week, start with contacts who are clicking, saving, and coming back, not the ones with the most opens.

Contact Member Support at support@realscout.com, call 650-397-6500 (Monday–Friday, 6am–6pm PT), or click the question mark icon inside RealScout.